Match of the Debut - Kane's in-ring debut under the red light

Kane vs. Mankind - Survivor Series (1997)

A Month after the unforgettable debut of the Big Red Machine at Bad Blood, the deranged in his own right - Mankind becomes Kane's first opponent at Survivor Series '97. While this may have been Kane's first official match, for those first few weeks since arriving in WWF Kane was leaving carnage in the ring every time he showed up.

Fun fact: Kane was given a special "eerie" red light during his first few appearances much like Sin Cara's, well, Sin Cara botch lights.

Match of the Day - HBK scores a Big Bossman/Mankind ladder match

Big Bossman vs. Mankind - Ladder match for the Hardcore title - Monday Night Raw (1998)

Mankind defends his Hardcore title against the one man 'Shield' for the Corporation, the Big Bossman. During the match, Shawn Michaels, commissioner at the time, provides commentary as well as scores during the match for Mankind's performance a la cue cards. The Rock also happens to makes an appearance in the match.

Theme Results

TLC: Ladder.

Match of the Day - Triple H's third match of the night on Smackdown! in 1999

Triple H vs. Mankind - Boiler Room match - Smackdown! (1999)

Flip back over to WWF in 2000 and you would see a lot of Triple H. This was at the height of HHH's push as himself and meant he was in the spotlight a lot. Some say it could be due to the lack of Stone Cold at times and others could say it was due to him banging Mr. McMahon's daughter, Steph, never the less, late 1999-2000 was all HHH.

On one Thursday night Smackdown! (remember those) in late 1999 though, There was a lot more Triple H than the normal Triple H show... See, Triple H that night would actually be in 5 matches! If he couldn't win 3 out of 5 of them that night HHH would not get his title shot he had won Yep, this was just his third bout here taking on his soon-to-be foe, Mankind in Mankind's specialty match, a Boiler Room Brawl.

A Boiler Room Brawl is when two competitors fight inside the confines of the arena's un-padded boiler room with the winner being the first person out of the room.

Triple H gets his second win of that night after escaping the boiler room unharmed thanks to someone pushing Mankind off of a high place for another Mankind super bump. I believe it was later relieved to be Chyna but I honestly do not remember when and how it was relieved...

Theme Results

Non-ring: a boiler room.

Match of the Day - The Rock Bottom British Bulldog-shit incident

The Rock and Sock Connection vs. The British Bulldog and Val Venis - WWF Raw is War (1999)

Recently on NFT Presents, I've brought up some pretty memorable Rock moments and feuds such as his many battles with Mankind to his eventual partnership with the deranged man, but this match right here may be a little less known to some people. In the heart of one of The Rock's lesser-known feuds, the one with the British Bulldog, who now just wears jeans out to the ring because hey, it's the attitude era, Bulldog finds himself in deep, well, doo-doo when he had to take on The Rock, the man he screwed out of the title about a month before.

In anticipation for their one on one match at No Mercy 1999, The British Bulldog teamed up with Val Venis to take on The Rock and Val Venis's rival for a short period of time, Mankind. The match would come to a climactic end when Mankind chased Venis into the back with Mr. Socko leaving The Rock to finish The Bulldog off all by himself. Before the match, The Rock and Mankind had gather a bit of bulldog feces and put it on a big tray to bring to the ring to show Davey Boy just what he was. The tray soon made its way into the ring were The Rock got a hold of The British Bulldog and delivered a Rock Bottom into the dog poop!

The dog poop! The dog poop! The dog poop! - Michael Cole

The Rock and Mankind then get the win via dog poop TKO.

Theme results:

Jeans: The British Bulldog

Match of the Day - The Rock and Mankind fight in an empty arena at halftime during Superbowl XXXIII

The Rock vs. Mankind - Empty Arena Match for the WWF World Championship - Halftime Heat (1999)

Here's a little something-something for all the halftime lovers out there. Yay, football!

Not satisfied with Beyonce's breathtaking performance tonight? Watch this classic featuring Mankind taking on Th Rock for his World title in a very special Heat that was aired during the halftime of the 1999 Super Bowl on USA.

This match was only a week after Rock and Mankind's very intense "I Quit" match at the Royal Rumble. Unfortunately for The Rock in this match, he did not drink his milk that morning which costed him the win to Mankind tried to kill him with a forklift!

WWE should have had more of these Halftime Heat programs. I would have loved to see CM Punk taking on The Rock in an empty arena match this year...

Enjoy!

Match of the Day - The one where Mankind wrestles in a tux

Hardcore Wednesday:

Mankind (c) vs. Ken Shamrock - First ever Hardcore Title match Raw (1998)

In Mankind's first defense as the Hardcore Champion, a title awarded to him by Mr. McMahon, against Ken Shamrock the Intercontinental champ at the time, Mankind, believing he was now corporate material dons a new tuxedo for this fine occasion.

Of course, like Ken Shamrock who uses his own body as a weapon, Mankind uses much of his attire to attack Ken Shamrock in this anything goes, falls count anywhere match.

All in all, this is a good introduction to the hardcore title. While there wasn't a lot of weapons and gimmick-y hardcore stunts pulled (other than Mankind beating Shamrock with his own shoes), this match and it's hardcore-ness relies heavily on the fact that these two characters are hardcore themselves. Both were also deranged which helped a great deal as well.

Later down the line, Hardcore title defenses in WWF became a lot more of a quick and easy treat for the audience. Especially with the introduction of  weapons and the 24/7 rule that was later adapted to the title, things got a little more easier for wrestlers who weren't naturally brutal or straight-up "hardcore" like Mankind and Ken Shamrock were. It is still always fun to watch all the interesting twists and spots wrestlers pulled when the 24/7 - or just the fact that they could go anywhere to win it - rule was around.

Good stuff.

Match of the Day - Rock 'n' Sock Connection are in grave danger!

The Rock & Mankind (c) vs. The Undertaker & The Big Show - WWF Smackdown! (1999)

In yet another interesting tag team confrontation, the ever-popular, Rock 'n' Sock Connection of The Rock and Mankind took on the ever-evil team of pony-tail era Big Show and The Undertaker in the very first tag team "Buried Alive" match. That's right! A tag team member buried alive match.

The first and only tag team Buried Alive match in WWF/E was unlike other specialty tag team matches like a tag team cage match or a tag team tables match in that only one man from either team needed to be buried AKA thrown in a rectangular hole and "completely" covered by dirt. This is contrary to the cage and table matches where both team members must escape the cage (usually, if they don't want to go for a dumb pinfall or something like that) or both team members must be put through a table for the win.

The result of the match comes out to be a shocking turn of events as super heel, Triple H hits The Big Show in the "back of the head", as Michael Cole puts it, with his signature sledgehammer but then buries Mankind by himself for the team of The Big Show and The Undertaker to win the match and Mankind and Rock's tag team titles. An Ambulance immediately appears at the dirt mound to pick up Mankind, but as Triple H goes to help the EMT's by opening the Ambulance doors for them - a real jerk, let the EMT's do their job - out pops the Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin! Austin then throws HHH in the back of the Ambulance and drives it out to the parking lot where Austin would then "commandeer" a semi and rams it into the Ambulance with HHH still inside...

Yeah, I know... all that on Smackdown!

This was back when SD! was essentially the blue version of Raw on Thursday nights.

Overall reaction: First, the bump that Mankind takes after being thrown from the stage to the grave looks super painful. Mick Foley was and forever will be known as the guy who could take the most punishment to his body and get right back up, but I honestly do not think that that poor man had to take so many falls to live up to the reputation he made for himself after Hell in the Cell #2. I mean we got it, Mick was unbreakable, but was repeatedly having him fall or thrown off of something really worth it at this point? Some may disagree. I however feel that Mick proved himself a worthy competitor even without the the scientific wrestling ability at this time in his career and didn't always need to be getting handcuffed and hit with a dozen chair shots or, in this case, taking a super hard bump for no reason. Yeah, no reason; the bump wasn't even necessary as the show was going to end with Triple H getting killed by Austin via vehicular manslaughter anyway.

Secondly, this is The Undertaker's first and only Buried Alive match where he is not buried alive. Undertaker, the only person who has wrestled in every one of this type of match in WWF/E (currently), was 1-1 coming into this match but thanks to HHH and only HHH, who wasn't even in this match to began with, buries Mankind for Taker's second win (believe it or not) and the only time Taker escaped un-buried.

Thirdly, no Buried Alive match has ever been won cleanly. What I mean by this is that almost every match out of the five Buried Alive matches that have taken place, an individual/individuals has interfered and buries the loser completely. In the first Buried Alive (officially won by The Undertaker but often forgotten), The Executioner played by masked Terry Gordy comes out to save Mankind from the grave and buries The Undertaker all the way to the top with the help of the heels (including HHH no less); in the second Buried Alive match, Taker vs. Austin, Austin gets help from Taker's baby brother, the Big Red Machine, Kane; in this Buried Alive match, Triple H buries Mankind (who was already buried in the first BA match) all by himself; in the 2003 Buried Alive match between Taker and Mr. McMahon, Kane (now unmasked kane) once again interferes and buries Undertaker whole with the crane digger; and in the last Buried Alive match at Bragging Rights 2010, Kane buries Undertaker for the third time with the crane thanks to the interference by NEXUS.

Just thought I'd spread a little history today, I guess.

Match of the Day - Taker and The Executioner tear down the house!

The Undertaker vs. The Executioner - WWF In Your House: It's Time (1996)

In yet another incident of The Undertaker taking on whoever and whatever WWF had to throw at him, this time in the form of Terry Gordy as The Executioner, things got almost extreme in '96 when Taker decided to take the house down...

Literally.

This was also an Armageddon rules match AKA a last man standing match where you must pin your opponent before the ten count is started.